Tuning Out: My Quarter-life Crisis

by Blowers; Katrina

Katrina Blowers seemingly had everything in life that she'd ever wanted - a great husband, close family and friends, a job as a breakfast announcer on Nova 969 with Merrick and Rosso ('the best job in Sydney radio' according to one local newspaper) and a media celebrity lifestyle. But despite the apparent glamour of her life, she was left is this all there is? On the brink of 30, with no mortgage or children, she decided to check out of her status quo and try to regain some perspective on her life, dreams and ambitions. She wanted to rekindle the spark in her marriage and discover what she was really all about. So Katrina and her husband, Tom, left Australia and headed off on an around-the-world adventure for six months. She was told she was making the biggest mistake of her career, and for a time she believed it. In Tuning Out , Katrina writes engagingly about their wonderful travel experiences and honestly about her own inner journey. Katrina and Tom travelled along the prickly-pear-lined backroads of Sardinia, visited steamy Moroccan bathhouses and trekked up a glacial mountain pass in South America. But the best thing Katrina discovered on their trip was something that wasn't in any guidebook - it was herself.

Genres: Travel

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 18, 2007

Reviews

[Melissa Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book from a tiny little used book stall at the Caloundra Sunday Markets. I won't lie. I bought it because I liked the cover and I thought it was going to be a fictional chick lit story. Perfect beach read.

It was actually several months before I got to sit down and read it (this is the problem with reading as much as I do. There are so many books, it's like Sophie's choice).

I've read a lot of people complaining about how much of this book was about her 'journey' of self discovery (excuse the pun in a travel-oriented book). There is a lot of complaining about her being self absorbed rather than getting to read about the places she went to. While I get the lust for more travel stories, I think that they kind of missed the point of this book.

It's kind of what it was supposed to be. She made no bones at the very beginning that this trip was something she really, really struggled with. That the idea of giving up a high-profile, successful career (even for something that most of us would give our right arm's for) was terrifying.

And maybe for some of us, without careers in industries that spit you out the moment you take a sick day, let alone a sabbatical, it can be hard to grasp the enormity of that. I know that had I the opportunity to take the trip Katrina and her husband took, there's nothing I wouldn't have done.

But I can also genuinely imagine how she would have felt walking away from that job.

Having said that, I'd imagine she's thrilled she did. The trip sounds amazing (though I'd have happily bypassed the Hong Kong - Cambodia-Thailand leg and spent longer exploring the rest of the UK or Europe. But the Torres del Paine trek (Patagonia) sounded amazing (this is the trip of my husband's dreams) and the parts of France and Italy that she saw - there are no words for how much I want to see them, and more. And there was just enough detail to make me feel that I was a part of it.

I'd have loved to hear her husband's point of view more, though I realise that isn't the point of the book. But I often wondered what Tom thought by the end, his views on how not only Katrina had changed, but his comments that he'd gone through some changes himself on the trip.

And as someone so desperate to see Europe, I'd have loved to hear more. More Italy, more France, more Prague. More of the artwork. More museums, more of all of it.

I read this slowly - a paperback while I had 3 Kindle and e-reader books on the go. Had I sat down and read it, a good hour or three would have done the job. It's by no means a hard read. Though I enjoyed it more by looking up the different towns, foods and sights that she spoke of.

Warning. Will inspire incurable wanderlust. Probably when SAHM with two autistic children. One day, when they're older.

[Nikki Howson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the "who am I without my job" journey. I enjoyed the food discussion, and all the amazing local foods they tried on their travels. I did feel quite rushed though through a lot of it. Sections I wanted more on were sometimes covered in just a couple of sentences. I acknowledge it was a pretty long trip, and no, I wasn't wanting a diary either.

The parts I enjoyed the most were the places I can never see myself going to - the South American trek, and Cambodia.

I have never travelled for such a long time, but I connected with the struggle to keep up with the pace you set yourself - especially in those first weeks away. You often need a holiday just to cope with the holiday you've chosen.

I have just started my own lists: "Aims", and "Things I Like". What is on them is not relevant here, but I guess it shows this book is a little self-help as well as travel memoir.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting... I really struggled to get into this book as she kind of went on and on and it was all a bit meh. Once the adventure actually starts though, the second half was much better and I did end up enjoying it.

Don't expect this book to be too focused on the travel side - it is much about her personal discovery.

[Alane Kataria-Rennie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is book is kind of terrible, but I still enjoyed reading it because she visited a lot of places that I've seen. I was so annoyed by her endless whingeing about leaving her job and her expanding thighs.

[Elsja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story written by a girl my husband knows. Pretty standard "I'm turning 30... what do I do with my life?" type storyline but reading it around my 30th birthday meant I could really relate with a lot of the things the author was experiencing.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great travel read about travelling, being 30ish and trying new and different things. I've chipped away at this book while on the move from Adelaide to Singapore, to London and now Toulouse. Thanks to Cyndy for giving it to me!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and the evidence it gives of the ways in which travel can change the course of your life. It is perhaps perfect that the author's journey ended in Cambodia and that I finished the book whilst en route there.

[Mel C · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy enough read but seems a little shallow on both the external and the internal travelling... Not annoying, but not life changing either. Another meh out of five.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ευκολοδιάβαστο βιβλίο, ένας πρόγονος των σημερινών travel blogs, με μια επιφανειακή αναφορά συναισθημάτων που συνήθως έχουμε σε αυτήν την ηλικία, ή όταν βρισκόμαστε σε κάποιο τέλμα. Απήλαυσα το κομμάτι του travel blog, αν και τα ενδιαφέροντα κομμάτια του κόσμου ήταν πολύ μικρότερα, η συγγραφέας βρήκε τον εαυτό της αργότερα και μας άφησε στο τέλος του ταξιδιού της πιο σίγουρη για τον εαυτό της, μπαίνοντας σε μια νέα εποχή.

[Travelling Cari]

Purchased at Brisbane Airport 24/8 to use up the last of my Australian currency. Started somewhere over the Pacific between Brisbane and Los Angeles, finished this morning at O'Hare in Chicago.

I loved this book, I really did. Not only do we have travelling in common, but I can understand the author's feeling of unsettledness. As she learned, we're not alone either. Our generation is facing new challenges unknown to our parents. Or they occur in new forms.

I like what they learned about different countries, customs (not ordering meat by weight in France) and about themselves. Travel does teach you more than can be imagined.

Carne di cavallo... "It can't be true. I drop the tray in horror and take a few steps back, covering my mouth. It's, it's... Phar Lap." I laughed out loud at that, not only because we do end up eating a _lot_ of weird stuff while traveling, but I remember horse mania from my last Australian trip.

I know what 'over travelling' does to you and can sympathize with Katrina when all she wants is a lie in but there is no time. That's part of what made Prague different to other trips where if I wanted a do nothing day, my schedule was mainly flexible enough to allow it.

One thing that irked me, her going on about obesity in America and being shocked at the junk food in the supermarkets. Coles/Woolies/Safeway are no better and on a whole, many issues face Australians as well but so many travel writers notice only the fat American.

And yes, fuck is an adjective :)

I think this book reminds me a lot of "Ticket to Ride" in that the person doesn't realise how much they still have to learn. And then we as readers learn with them.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never listened to radio host Katrina Blowers before, but I am always excited about a new piece of travel literature by an Australian writer. This follows Katrina as she sets out on a six month trip (primarily across Europe) with her husband and finds herself etc etc.

I really found myself disliking Katrina. At times, she comes across as intensely self-absorbed and somewhat selfish. Her constant meditations on finding more to herself outside of work become a little repetitive, and I often felt as though she adhered to the stereotype of the clueless female, even though she is clearly not. She mentions her weight so frequently, and I kept thinking to myself, either eat the rich Italian food and stop whinging or don't eat it. The dialogue is often very forced and sometimes quite cringe-worthy.

A final point (albeit a mean one.) Her revelations weren't exactly mind-blowing for all the introspection they took and it felt a little cliched toward the end.

The places are magnificant to read about, although there is not nearly enough of them and too much of Katrina.